Ed Miliband and Ed Balls have been challenged by one of Labour’s most loyal union leaders to stop treating the proposed HS2 rail scheme as a “political football” and to give Labour’s unambiguous backing to the £42bn project.

When the two ends of the Channel Tunnel met in 1990, the moment was marked by a shaking of hands between a construction worker from France and one from England, followed by a mutual crossing of hundreds of workers. The man who enabled that meeting to take place through the production of special laser guidance equipment was Peter Zollman, a Hungarian refugee from the 1956 revolution, who was only 25 when he arrived in England with a degree in electrical engineering and who went on to win three Queen's Awards for technological innovation and export in the industry.

Tourists are limp, leaderless and distinctly UnAustralian

Andrew Grice: Inside Westminster

Blairites be warned, this could be the moment Labour turns into Syriza

The mystery of Britain's worst naval disaster is finally solved - 271 years later

Exclusive: David Keys reveals the research that finally explains why HMS Victory went down with the loss of 1,100 lives

'I saw people so injured you couldn't tell if they were dead or alive'

Nagasaki survivors on why Japan must not abandon its post-war pacifism

The voter Obama tried hardest to keep onside

Outgoing The Daily Show host, Jon Stewart, became the voice of Democrats who felt the President had failed to deliver on his ‘Yes We Can’ slogan. Tim Walker charts the ups and downs of their 10-year relationship on screen